


Alex and the Quest For Sweet Honey

by VeryDryWit



Series: The Dating Adventures of FierroChase [2]
Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Heroic quest, Kissing, Multi, Second Date, Underage Smoking, recollection of suicide, talking about sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryDryWit/pseuds/VeryDryWit
Summary: Things don't go as planned when Alex tries to ask Magnus out on a date.
Relationships: Magnus Chase & Alex Fierro
Series: The Dating Adventures of FierroChase [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773940
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	1. Dating Sucks

Alex sits in her room, trying to decide what to wear. Pile of clothes are already on the bed, but nothing seems right. Something sexy? Something strong? Funky? Nothing feels right. It’s like those times when you shape clay, but it gets uneven and collapses off the spinning wheel. The worst part is, Magnus doesn’t care what Alex wears. Magnus doesn’t care what gender Alex is. He doesn’t even blink an eye when Alex transforms into animals.

“Cool,” he said once. “Can you be a dinosaur?”

Yet today, she wants to ask him out on a date. And surprisingly, that’s making her nervous.

“Alex, just wear what you always wear,” she tells herself in the mirror. And she puts on a pair of skinny green jeans, and a pink sweater vest. After all, the others on floor 19 might tease her to death otherwise.

Alex shows up at the dining hall, and ducks as a two-sided ax flies near her head. Then she ducks as some ducks fly over the table. She sits down next to Mallory, and inquires,

“Should I ask what’s going on?”

“Someone said something about playing duck duck goose. You look nice, are you gonna ask Magnus out?”

Alex shakes her head, and insists,

“Just because we went to prom together, doesn’t mean we’re dating.”

Oops. Her habit of being contrary made her deny what she’s planning to do. Magnus had mentioned camping in the White Mountains, and it’s a great idea for a trip. But it sounds a little intimate, when they’ve just started to date. It’s time for Sunday brunch, and Alex grabs several pancakes and looks around for some maple syrup.

“Where’s the syrup?”

Hundig pops up nearby and explains,

“The Sugar Shack, our maple syrup supplier is completely out.”

“Hey Magnus, Alex wants to go bowling. Wanna teach her?” yells Mallory. Magnus looks over at Alex with that slightly goofy smile that he’s been getting a lot lately.

“Uh, sure.”

Alex turns to Mallory, and threatens,

“Remind me to kill you later today. I’d choke you with this pancake, but I’m hungry.”

“No prob! See you later,” replies Mallory with a happy wave.

The next night, Alex arrives at the bowling alley about five minutes late. It’s a stylish place, with vintage wood seats, and the lanes lit up with neon blue lights. Magnus isn’t there. She kills time by checking out bowling balls for sale in the shop. There’s a pink and green opalescent one which is kind of cool, and will partially glow in a black light. She checks the time, then eats an abandoned tray of French fries. Yet Magnus doesn’t show. Then there’s announcement on the loudspeaker,

“Message for Alex Ferrari. Please come to the desk.”

Alex figures that must be her. She asks the big guy behind the desk,

“I’m Alex Fierro. What’s the message?”

“Something came up.”

“Something came up? Could he be any more vague?”

“He left with a tall girl. Blonde, very good-looking, if you know what I mean.”

The man makes a gesture to show a curvy figure. Alex rolls her eyes, and responds,

“Sure. Big boobs. Thanks.”

Alex returns to her room, deflated. Magnus stood her up for another girl? Some tall Valkyrie… Wait a minute. Alex sends a written message by raven to Samirah;

_Is Magnus working with a tall blonde Valkyrie on a project?_

Soon after she receives this reply:

_Magnus isn’t working officially on any case. Why?_

Alex crumples the message, then places a message under Magnus’s door:

_I don’t care what time it is, just let me know when you get back. -Alex._

The next morning, Alex knocks on Magnus’s door. No response. Alex reluctantly goes to breakfast in the main dining room.

“How was bowling?” asks Mallory with a smirk. Alex replies curtly,

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

She grabs some food, returns to her room, and waits.

It feels like Magnus is in trouble, but Alex doesn’t want to tell anyone what happened. She grabs some chocolate hidden in her room, and offers it to Hundig. Then she asks,

“Is there a magical way to find someone?”

Hundig nods, and replies,

“Lots of ways. Study with runes, blind yourself in one eye, make a potion out of witch’s bunions…”

“Is there anything quick, that won’t maim me?”

“You could consult a v _ölva._ ”

“A what?”

“A seeress. Someone who can divine the future.”

“Okay. Does she have a website?”

“I don’t think so. Oh, here’s a business card. They always seem to appear in my pocket when someone needs one.”

_Hildagund, V ölva_

_Seidr Specialist_

_Enjoy the magic of the Vikings!_

Hundig hurries off to work, Alex examines the card. Then she protests,

“Wait, there’s no address or phone number…”

Alex returns to floor 19, and pounds on Magnus’s door. Nothing. Then she enters her room, just as a raven drops a message. An address in Boston. She grabs her wire, and leaves quickly.

Alex finds the address in the SoWa Art District. It’s part of a warehouse and the door opens by itself. Then a woman’s voice says,

“Hey, I’m Hilda. What’s up, man?”

Alex looks at the tall ash blonde woman who looks like a poster child from the sixties. She’s wearing a psychedelic peace sign jumpsuit with bellbottoms. Her long straight hair is held back by a thin cord. Hilda sits on a orange beanbag chair, and motions to a yellow one next to her. Then Hilda stares at a blue lamp sitting next to her. Alex remarks,

“Uh, nice lamp. So how does this work?

“It’s called a lava lamp. The heat of the lightbulb causes the oil to heat up, and the blobs to move around the liquid.”

“No, I meant the divination thing. I need to find a friend of mine who’s disappeared.”

The woman takes out a huge glass bong.

“We both smoke henbane. It’s toxic, so don’t take too much, it’ll kill you. Then my assistants will sing, then if all goes well, a prophecy will be spoken by me.”

“I don’t take drugs. Is there any other way?”

“Mmmm, well… traditionally people offered the corpses of their enemies. Then I dissect them with a sword, and find the answer to your question. Honestly, I’m kind of out of practice with that one.”

Alex briefly considers bringing Magnus’s corpse to be dissected, but if he could find Magnus, he wouldn’t need the corpse. Alex demands,

“Why do I have to smoke the bong?”

Hilda stares at the lava lamp a little bit more, then answers,

“I don’t know the person you’re looking for. Your personal connection to him is what I will use to find him. The more you care about him, the easier it will be. Have you kissed him?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately,” grumbles Alex.

“Okay. How will you be paying for this?”

“Uh... what kind of payment do you accept?”

“Visa, MasterCard, jewelry of the gods…”

“What about pottery? I can make plates, bowls, maybe make a psychedelic pattern…?”

Hilda nods, puts the dried leaf of plant into the bong, and lights it. Then she inhales a bit of smoke. Alex sits there stiffly, not liking the risk. The plant is poisonous, maybe addictive, and Alex might be risking his life only to find Magnus spending the night with a hot blonde. Yet in his gut, Alex needs to find Magnus. He reaches over and tries to inhale as little as possible. The three women behind them begin to sing,

_Mamma mia, here I go again  
My my, how can I resist you?  
Mamma mia, does it show again  
My my, just how much I’ve missed you?_

Alex feels a little bit dizzy, then sick to his stomach. It doesn’t help that the three girls sing a medley of the 1970s Swedish band Abba. Gross. Then the singing stops, and Hilda begins to float above her beanbag chair. Her head sways back and forth, as if the music was still going. Then in a deep voice completely unlike her own she says,

“Look in the mirror, the music will show you the way. Your honey is sweet, follow your heart to be free.”

Alex leaves the warehouse, and walks down the street. The outside air clears her head. So far, there doesn’t appear to be any bad side effects. There’s a shop down the street selling jewelry, and she looks at herself in a display mirror. Nothing unusual. Small dark features, green hair. No big boobs. Alex whispers angrily,

“Okay, Magnus. Where are you?”

A flyer hits Alex in the face. It’s for a resort, near Mirror Lake.

“You’re at _Mirror_ Lake? Ugh, I bet I’ll be following _the music_ from a loud party.”

Alex spends the rest the day panhandling for money, then taking a bus to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

Mirror Lake is a picturesque spot, with trees all around coming all the way up to the edge of the water. She hikes around a bit, but aside from a small canoe on the other side of the lake no one is around. She listens carefully, there’s a few bird cries, not much else. Unsure of what to do, Alex stares at her reflection in the water, wondering what to do next. Alex stares for a moment, then backs up a bit. The image in the water is no longer her own. There’s a humanoid creature coming out of the water. A beautiful naked boy smiles, and offers,

“Would you like to learn to play a fiddle?”

Alex blinks, nonplussed. She’s not sure how to handle music lessons from a lake creature. She answers,

“I’m looking for a friend of mine. Would it help for me to play a fiddle?”

“Of course. Music is a powerful magic.”

“Then I accept.”

The boy claps his hands excitedly.

“We shall start in a few hours, once you have brought me a goat.”

“A goat?” repeats Alex.

“A plump one. If it’s too scrawny, I’ll only teach you to tune the instrument.”

The boy plunges back into the water of the lake.

“Are you going to keep the goat?” Alex asks the ripples on the water. Of course there’s no reply.

Alex’s first idea is to buy a goat at a petting zoo. There’s a farm where you can pick your own apples, and pet some goats. Alex hikes back down to the road, then a few miles to the farm. She asks the woman selling feed pellets,

“How much for a goat?”

”$200-$300. I’ll have some babies in a few weeks.”

Baby goats are called kids, so if Alex steals one, it will be _kid_ napping. Then Alex gets an idea. She hikes back to Mirror Lake. There she yells up at the sky,

“Heimdall!! Tell Thor I need a favor. Please send Otis.”

Alex waits by the lake, thinking about Magnus. She likes the way they can hang out together, without necessarily talking. And he gets the homeless thing, and the nature thing… Then she grumbles,

“Magnus, I can’t stand it when people disappear! Call it a pet peeve or something. So hurry up and be found. I really need to punch you right now.”

Hours later, she’s still waiting for a goat that may never arrive. She stares at the water, wondering what to say to the water creature if he shows up.

“What’s so interesting about the water?” says a voice behind her. Alex blinks in surprise, shocked to see a familiar goat. She replies,

“Hi, Marvin. I need a favor, and since Magnus and I helped find Thor’s Hammer, I figured…”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. What do you need? Weed removal? Yoga accompaniment?”

“Aaaaaah, well...”

The underwater boy didn’t say exactly why he wanted a goat. At that moment, a sharp blade swishes out of the water, and Marvin lays there dying by the lakeside. Alex sighs, feeling bad for the goat.

It’s different when you know the animal is going to look at you the next day reproachfully.

Within a short time, there is goat meat roasting on an open fire. The boy from the water seems very happy. He munches on the goat meat, while Alex joins him reluctantly, asking,

“What’s your name?”

“Nick. And this is Dag, a _h_ _ardingfele_. Nick hands her what looks like a violin, except instead of four strings, it has eight.

Alex picks up the fiddle, and the bow, then her hands start moving on their own. Her left fingers are flying over the strings, her right hand is bowing, and the music is pouring out of the instrument. It’s upbeat, and she taps her toe excitedly. But after a while, the strings bite into her left fingers. At first it burns, then it blisters, and eventually her fingers bleed. But she has no control over her hands. The music continues, and eventually Alex moans from the pain. Then it happens. The nearby trees begin to sway, the branches moving to the music. The trees are still bare from winter, and they move in a coordinated unison, like a beautiful ballet. One of the trees nearest to her bows towards her, and then finally, her hands stop. She drops the fiddle, and collapses the ground. A nearby tree picks up the instrument, and helps her to her feet. And then she hears multiple voices whisper,

“Our precious blood is being taken from us… Follow the roots down…”

There is a round hole in the ground, slightly shorter than her. It’s a perfectly round, and slants downward. Alex slowly walks in. About five feet in, the tunnel goes into different directions. One goes almost straight down, another goes down into the left, down into the right, and another goes straight forward. Alex reaches inside pocket, and takes out a tiny flashlight. She explores each of the four tunnels, finding each one forks into even more tunnels. She has no idea which way to go. So she picks one, and marks the walls with bloody fingers, hoping to find her way back out.


	2. I Hate Tunnels

“Magnus, Magnus!” yells Alex, every so often. After some time walking through tunnels, suddenly the dirt next to her shakes, and the wall crumbles. A form appears, but it’s hard to figure out what it is. It looks like a round mouth at the end of a snake with no face. It pulses towards her, biting at her face, and she sidesteps it, and slices it off with her wire. Ooze pours out, but the creature continues to move towards her. Then another wall crumbles, and another mouth appears. She slices through several more creatures, then runs randomly down several tunnels till it’s quiet. Then she curls up in a corner, and rests.

_In the dream, she is about three years old. Several boys are playing together, each has a stick for a sword._

“ _I’m a Jedi,”_

“ _I’m a Jedi too!”_

“ _And I’m a zombie.”_

_Alex finds a stick, and joins them. Another boy shakes his head, and says,_

“ _Only boys can play our game.”_

_Alex closes her eyes, and suddenly she is wearing a pink shirt, and jeans instead of the pink dress._

“ _I’m Luke, I’m a Jedi!” Alex yells at the others. But the other boys run away. Her nanny grabs her quickly and forces her into the car._

“ _Alejandra, muñeca, time to go home.”_

“ _No, no, no! I wanna play!”_

_She yells and screams all the way back home. But the nanny locks are in her room, and refuses to let her out._

Alex wakes up, cold and hungry. That doesn’t matter too much, it’s happened many times before. But now she starting to doubt she’ll be able to get out of these tunnels. Why didn’t she tell Samirah where she was going? Because she hates to ask for help. She hates to trust anyone. She trusted her grandfather, but now he’s dead. And Adrian… a sick feeling of guilt churns her stomach, as she slowly wanders the dark tunnels.

That the dirt next to her shakes, and the wall crumbles. A faceless snake pulses towards her, and she slices it off with her wire. Ooze splats on her, as she slices through several more creatures, then runs a bit further. No more creatures appear, so she goes back, and examines them. They look like giant worms. She wanders down a few more tunnels, then sits down, and passes out.

_This time, it’s two years ago. She is wandering the streets of Boston. What happened this morning keeps replaying in her mind. The look on her father’s face as he screamed at her, pointing towards the door. She no longer cared for her father, yet still, the feelings are making her body hurt as if he physically hit her._

_At first, being homeless is a relief. She no longer worries about school, or getting yelled at by her father. It’s surprisingly easy to find food, as long as you’re not too picky. People abandon half eaten food, or give away granola bars. Bathrooms are more of an issue. It’s hard to find a place to pee, and in a pinch, Alex changes into a boy and pees behind a tree. Sleeping happens at random times. Sometimes it’s safer in a park in broad daylight. At night, the city is noisy, and feels dangerous. Then the weather turns cold. Sometimes she hides in the subway, but she prefers the outdoors. One night she is woken up by a boy, about her age, shivering in a thin hoodie._

“ _I’m Luke.”_

“ _A-a-a-lex,” manages Alex through her shivering._

“ _Come with me, there’s a shelter nearby.”_

_Alex finally gives up, and goes to a homeless shelter. She hides her face, and stays with the women, thinking she’ll be safer. A pudgy teenager gives her a nod._

“ _Hey. I’m Stacy.”_

“ _Alex.”_

“ _Okay. Hi Alex.”_

_Stacy takes out a box of licorice, and starts gnawing on it. Then she advises,_

“ _Stay away from that old lady with the fake red hair, Lucy. She makes girls disappear.”_

_Alex wakes up the next morning, and finds all her cash gone. A tall skinny girl with long limp hair tells her,_

“ _Stacy took it. She needs surgery, and can’t afford it. ”_

“ _What surgery?”_

“ _Some tumor.”_

_Alex shudders at the thought of somebody cutting into someone else. But she can’t get mad at either._

_The next night, she tries a different shelter as a boy. There she notices a quiet boy, looking intently around through funky glasses._

_His name is Adrian. He’s sweet. He saves Alex a spot at the shelter, or saves a cookie. There’s a feeling, a kind of heat in the stomach whenever Adrian is around. Alex likes to watch Adrian, then one day, Adrian stares at a teenager with messy blonde hair. Good-looking, but doesn’t look too bright._

“ _He’s like a handsome Viking,” murmurs Adrian, seeming impressed._

“ _He’s a hunk,” admits Alex. Adrian turns toward him, and hesitantly asks,_

“ _Do you like guys?”_

_Alex answers decidedly,_

“ _Yeah. I do.”_

“ _Oh. I’m gay too! I’m glad you told me, I’ve never had a gay friend…”_

_Alex sighs, unsure how to respond. The gay label doesn’t quite work since the attraction has nothing to do with what gender Alex is. But Adrian becomes even friendlier after that, smiling shyly in a way that makes Alex turn to mush._

_After that, Alex and Adrian spend more and more time together. Alex asks,_

“ _How did you end up on the streets?”_

_Adrian answers,_

“ _My dad found out I was gay. I ran away. How about you?”_

“ _Something similar.”_

_Later, Adrian shows her his secret hideaway. Alex stares at it, then says,_

“ _It looks like a dumpster.”_

“ _It is a dumpster. But I’ve rigged it so it’s difficult to open. So the people in the buildings use the other two dumpsters. He takes a magnet, and a wire and somehow undoes the lid. Inside is a sleeping bag, an electric candle, and a giant trashbag full of something._

“ _Extra clothes?” asks Alex._

“ _Nope. Even better.”_

_Alex opens up the trashbag, and sees it’s full of packets of ramen. The cheap kind you can get for thirty cents a pack._

“ _How do you cook them?”_

“ _I don’t, not yet. It’s for the day I get my own place.”_

_At first, it’s easy to always be a boy around Adrian. It’s as if the male Alex clicks perfectly with the tall poetic boy. They admire men together, they read stuff together, and sometimes they share a blanket inside the dumpster. Finally, they kiss. But after a while, it chafes. Alex feels trapped in the male form when Adrian is around, and wonders if anyone besides Grandfather could ever love all of Alex._

_Then one day, right after the end of the school year, Alex finds a huge amount of discarded items from students leaving college dorms. Pots, lamps, and a huge bag of clothes. One of them has a shimmery top, it would just fit her. She tries it on over her shirt, and checks it out in a nearby window. Then she tries on a skirt, and several other pieces of clothing._

“ _Well well, maybe you should try an evening dress. It has a designer label.”_

_Oh no, it’s the old lady, the one involved with kidnapping. Alex grabs a lamp, removes the shade, then waves it in the woman’s direction. The woman moves quickly, grabbing her arms with surprising strength, like a vise. Alex tries to weasel away, then gets an idea. She transforms into a weasel, then back into her human form. The woman loses her grip, and then tears at her shirt in anger. Alex is left with only part of her shirt covering her chest. Suddenly, something crashes over the lady’s head. Adrian stands over the woman, shaking. Then he stares at Alex’s almost bare torso. Then he runs away. Alex quickly puts on a new shirt, and the old lady turns into a beautiful redhead. Her face is similar to Alex’s._

“ _Loki!”_

“ _You know, Alex, I’ve been watching over you.”_

“ _How did you find me?”_

“ _When you shape shift, I can feel it. I can help you, if you would help me a little bit...”_

“ _No thanks,_ mom _. Your fashion sense sucks.”_

_Alex runs away, and stays in the body of a girl, scared to transform._

_She doesn’t see Adrian for days. And when she does, he simply nods and heads off in a different direction._

“ _Wait. Let me explain...” begins Alex. Adrian interrupts,_

“ _You don’t need to. It’s not your problem, it’s mine.”_

“ _What do you mean?”_

“ _You’re trans. It’s weird, I really thought you were a boy. And then once I saw you as a girl, you were a girl. And I can’t… I can’t. I worked so hard to accept that I like boys, and trying to be with someone who is a boy, but has the body of the girl… I can’t do it.”_

“ _Adrian, it’s more complicated than that. And I’ve never… I’ve never told anyone about it. Could we meet, one last time? Please…”_

_They meet in Boston Commons, a large park. She transforms into a panther. Then back to human. Adrian never says anything. He disappears. For weeks, Alex checks all the shelters. Then Adrian is found dead. Suicide. The pain is immediate, like someone has stabbed her in the stomach. How could she have been so stupid…_

_Other people may have hunkered down and cried. But she doesn’t. Instead, she closes away her heart, and starts training. Transforming at will, never letting her mother’s image intrude. Eventually, she gets the snake tattooed on the back of her neck. Yes, she is a child of Loki, but Loki is not her master._

Alex wakes up once again cold and hungry on the ground. She gets up, and starts wandering the dark tunnels.

“Great. I’m stuck in memory lane. Anyone else want to go bowling?” she calls out. Then the walls next to her crumble, and she fights some giant worms. Then she collapses back on the ground.

_This time she is in her grandfather’s pottery studio. She’s not making anything, just playing with the wet clay, fashioning one thing, then smashing it up and creating something else._

“ _C_ _orazón_ _, even evil can have some good in it.”_

_Her grandfather calls her_ _corazón_ _or heart, because most other endearments in Spanish are male or female._

“ _You’re talking about me, Abuelito?” responds Alex._

“ _Si. You have all that potential of the clay, you can become many things.”_

“ _I do love it, the feeling of it, squishing through my fingers.”_

_Her grandfathers smiles, nodding with that look of understanding and love that always made her feel so cherished._

This time Alex wakes up in tears. How much longer can she go on? Lack of food, lack of sleep, constantly battling worms… The worst part is, Magnus might be home right now, eating pizza. Yet she refuses to give up. There’s something she needs to tell that handsome Viking guy that Adrian liked.

“Hey, Maggie, some half-baked hippie chick told me how to find you, and I will…”

Follow your heart to be free. Isn’t that what the seeress had said? What does that mean? Is trying to find Magnus following her heart? I mean, she cares about him, but is it more than that? She’s not ready to think about that. She sits down, and picks at the wall next to her. The soil here is different, more the thick consistency of clay, not the mixture of sticks and leaves of the dirt of the topsoil. Following the clay should bring her closer to water.


	3. Being a Hero Sucks

“Magnus, Magnus!” yells Alex. The tunnel slopes downward, the soil gets more moist, till she finally finds a small apartment. There’s a bright lamp, an overstuffed chair in front of a large TV, and movie posters all over the dirt wall. In one corner, shackled to the ground, is Magnus. Alex runs over, and asks,

“Magnus, are you okay?”

Magnus yawns, and looks around like he’s in a daze. Then he mumbles,

“My head hurts, hand me a cup of water.”

Alex hadn’t noticed because of the sudden brightness of the room, but they are at the edge of a water. Maybe a large underground lake, it’s hard to see into the dark cavern. There is a ceramic mug which says ‘ _Worlds Best Grandpa’_ on it. She scoops some of the lake water, and hands it to Magnus. He drinks it. Then she drinks it herself, suddenly realizing how weak she is without food or water. The water is slightly sweet, with a hint of something familiar. Then she collapses onto the floor.

“Magnus, how did you get here?”

“Huh? I dunno.... Um… This girl offered me a free donut hole.”

“A donut hole?”

“With powdered sugar. Anyway, I was waiting at the bowling alley... and this girl said she needed help bringing in free samples... I helped her with a tray of donut holes, then something hit me in the head. I woke up here.”

“Ah. Of course. You’re a magical demigod, with a magical sword, superhuman powers, who was captured by by a lump of dessert.”

Magnus frowns, and stares at the ceiling. Then he says,

“You’re not making sense.”

“No. Not at all,” she replies. “I’m sure you only followed the tall blonde gorgeous girl for her big rack of donuts!”

“Right! She... she had a T-shirt on that said ‘ _Holey Donut!! Grand Opening’ ..._ and she was handing out flyers and coupons... Look, after living on the streets, it’s hard to turn down free food.”

Alex huffs a bit, then examines the manacles.

“How do we get these off of you?”

“Greetings, heroes!” booms a deep voice. “You will not be allowed to leave. This is the lair of the great monstrous Sam, and I am Anklebiter, its famous sword.”

A smallish simple sword with a stratched blade and a brass handle is hovering near the doorway. It appears to have cell phone hanging from it. Alex ignores the sword, and asks Magnus,

“Can’t Jack break these manacles?”

Magnus frowns, then asks,

“What?”

Anklebiter hovers closer, and orders in a menacing tone,

“You’ll never get away! Oh... and introduce yourselves.”

Magnus rubs his head, and replies,

“I’m... Magnus.”

“No, no. Do it again without covering your face,” responds the sword. Alex realizes the sword is filming the scene with the cell phone. She grabs the necklace around Magnus’s neck, and shoves it into Magnus’s hand. Suddenly, the long sword magically appears, with the runes glowing, and with a loud ‘ _clang_ ’ Magnus is free from the shackles.

“OMG Sumarbrander!!” squeals Anklebiter.

“Call me Jack.”

“I mean… This is just so… Could someone take a picture of both of us?” asks Anklebiter. Magnus looks dubiously at the swords, then takes the cell phone off Anklebiter and takes a photo. Alex whispers,

“Jack, try to distract that sword for a bit…”

“Ew. Look, I don’t judge the lifestyle, but I’m not a gay sword…”

Alex glares, and whispers back,

“Find a way to give an autograph or something. No one said anything about dating it!”

Meanwhile Anklebiter is babbling,

“I’m such a fan! Do you like old movies? I have _Zorro the Gay Blade_ and _Excalibur_ on Blu-ray…”

Jack flies away with a distinctly angry hum.

Alex looks towards the swords, then asks,

“Should we go back to the maze of tunnels filled with giant worms, or do we try the lake?”

“Let’s try swimming,” decides Magnus. Alex looks at the water, and says,

“I could transform into a fish, but I might not be able to breathe through my gills with this stuff.”

“What about a dolphin? They breathe air.”

“Not a bad idea, donut hole brain. The cave slopes upwards to the left, let’s swim that way.”

They quickly get into the the liquid. It’s slightly heavier and thicker than water. Alex visualizes the form of a dolphin, feels the weird rubberiness of her body losing shape and becoming something else. The world goes black and white, but as she plunges under the water, she makes some clicking noises, and everything underwater is perfectly visible for a moment. She clicks some more, suddenly realizing it must be the echolocation. She swims quickly to a big wall of debris blocking their path. She swims back to the surface, does some high-pitched whistles and clicks. Magnus repeats,

“There is a hole at the bottom. Follow me.”

She nods her whole head and swims down. She goes through the hole, and emerges inside as a wet human, gasping for breath. Magnus follows her. They find themselves in a large lair, constructed of logs and other pieces of wood. There’s a bed of leaves and moss on the ground, and the temperature is warm. She holds on to a log, trying not to faint from exhaustion. Unfortunately, the tunnel leading out is blocked by a large hairy creature. It _has long reddish shaggy hair, long orange teeth, and a long spatula tail._

“Okay, what’s up with the giant beaver?” asks Magnus. Behind them, Anklebiter splashes through the water and replies,

“That’s Sam, the famous creature from Tales of the Beaver!”

“Um... never heard of it,” responds Magnus. Anklebiter explains,

“Everyone in Scandinavia knew of it in the 600s... unfortunately, beavers became so popular, they were hunted to extinction by the year 1000. Still, I got this Christian monk to write down a codex, _The_

_ Fabula de Castorea.  _ But  _ Snorri Sturluson, the great compiler of Nordic tales, refused to include it!” _

_“ Too bad,” comments Magnus. Anklebiter complains,_

_“ I don’t expect him to be as popular as _ _ Sleipnir _ _ or  _ _ Ratatoskr _ _ , but maybe a miniseries?” _

_ Alex interrupts, _

“So you kidnapped Magnus to become famous?”

Anklebiter responds,

“Well… I’m sure you’ve heard of great magical objects. Excalibur is super rich, and Thor’s Hammer is a movie star, and has action figures! I wanted to be famous like that, but then someone gave me the name ‘ _Anklebiter’_ and it stuck.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that,” mumbles Magnus.

“The enemy was wearing armor, so I slashed at their Achilles tendons, to make them fall down. See… no one calls it Silli’s tendon.”

“Why would we call it a silly tendon?” snaps Alex.

“Silli, spelled S - i - l - l - i. It’s my name. It’s Icelandic.”

“That’s even worse than Anklebiter!” exclaims Alex. Anklebiter roars back,

“Sam, I’m recording. Attack the heroes!”

_Alex grabs her wire, and Magnus picks up a piece of wood, preparing to fight the giant beaver._ There’s a pause, then Sam grabs a log, cuts it precisely in half with his giant front teeth, and places it over onto the barrier. Anklebiter groans, and complains,

“Would you stop it with the dam! It’s big, it’s perfect, it’s holding all that water! Now is the time to make a name for yourself…”

The beaver ignores him, and continues to work. Anklebiter screams in fury,

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Then he stabs at the giant wall of logs. A few get dislodged, then a few more, then Magnus attacks the dam as well. Alex helps, and so does Jack. Trickles of water start to appear.

_ Sam bares his teeth, and makes a weird growling noise. The animal suddenly looks enraged. Then he turns around, lifts its tail, and smacks the water hole. The sound is deafening, but the shock wave is even worse. Alex feels like she’s been hit on the inside. Somehow, if it happens again, it feels like her bones are going to shatter. The beaver lifts its tail, and Alex cries out, _

“Hardingfele _Dag!”_

A fiddle appears in her arms, and she starts to play. The beaver’s tail goes up higher, then starts to shake. In fact, the animal appears to be having a seizure. As the music continues, it turns around, shakes its behind, then moves its paws. It suddenly occurs to Alex that it’s dancing. Dancing really badly. Apparently, giant beavers have no rhythm. Then Alex turns to Magnus. Magnus is hopping around in a way that normally would make her cringe, but looks way better than the beaver. But then the scabs fall off, Alex’s fingers are like burning stubs of pain, bleeding on the instrument. Magnus cries out,

“Someone help her!”

Jack flies over, and slices through the strings of the fiddle. Alex drops the instrument, clutching her fingers in pain. The beaver turns toward her, looking upset. But before the giant animal can slap again, water and debris crash towards them. Alex feels long woody tendrils grab her, and pull her body up through the soil and mud, emerging in the light of day. Alex recognizes the edge of the lake. Magnus is there too.

“What just happened?” asks Magnus. Alex replies,

“The trees saved us. Their roots pulled us to the surface. Thank you, maple trees.”

Multiple voices whisper,

“ _Our many thanks for releasing our precious blood…_ ”

Magnus remarks,

“I think that lake was full of maple tree sap. Maybe Sam has a sweet tooth.”

Alex examines herself. She’s covered with a layer of dirt and worm ooze, then a layer of maple water, then another layer of dirt on her.

“I feel like a triple layered troll candy.”

Magnus chuckles, and rests on the ground.

Then he reaches over, and holds her hands. She winces in pain, then relaxes as warmth tingles into her fingers, then through the rest of her body. This time, she’s less worried about Magnus accessing memories, and instead suddenly feels overly aware of Magnus’s body nearby. Magnus reaches over like he’s going to kiss her, then asks,

“What’s your name?”

Alex feels her stomach flip over like she’s going to throw up. She takes his hands, and puts them on Magnus’s head.

“Heal yourself,” she orders intently. Magnus frowns, then he palpates his own head. After a while, his face looks more peaceful. Then she asks,

“Do you know who I am?”

“Yeah. You’re the person I’m in love with. Alex.”

Alex stares at him, now feeling like she can’t breathe. Magnus continues,

“Just to be clear, I’m not interested in anyone else. I spend a lot of time thinking about you, and I thinking about kissing you. A lot. A lot of thinking, a lot of thinking about kissing... Anyway, I saved these for you.”

Magnus pulls a plastic bag out of a pocket, and presents smushed donut holes. Something about the gesture is familiar, it reminds her of Adrian. Alex blinks a few times, then answers,

“Thanks.”

Her stomach rumbles. She’s definitely eaten worse. She pulls out a piece of dough, and shoves it in her mouth. It’s a little stale, and there’s a flavor of maple syrup.

“Actually, these are kind of good.”

She eats half, then hands Magnus the rest. Then she grabs his shoulders, and kisses him. There is a faint taste of sweet maple syrup, then everything goes dark.

Alex wakes up back in her room. She faintly remembers Magnus carrying her to the freeway, then hitchhiking back to Boston. Now they’re back at Hotel Valhalla. She goes and takes a shower, relieved to be back home.

The next day, Alex packs up a huge set of pottery, then brings it to Hilda. Then she spends the day hunting for a particular address. Finally, she knocks on a door, and a middle aged woman answers,

“Yes, may help you?”

“My name is Alex. I was a friend of Adrian’s.”

The woman’s face turns sad. Then she asks tentatively,

“Oh. Are you… Are you Alex Fierro? I thought you’d be a boy…”

“Uh, no.”

Not right now. Alex tries to think of the right words to say, but the woman interrupts,

“Please wait here. I have something for you.”

The woman comes back a few minutes later, and hands her a letter. It’s been opened, and it looks like it’s in Adrian’s hand.

“This is for you, dear. I’m sorry I opened it, but I was trying to find out why he did it…”

“Oh. Does this say?” Alex asks tremulously. The woman shakes her head, and replies,

“No. But later on, his father admitted… admitted to what happened.”

What happened? Did Adrian say something about the shape shifting? Alex responds,

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Adrian’s father pretended to forgive him, and brought him back home. Adrian was so happy! But then he discovered that his father was planning to send him to a conversion therapy camp. They had a fight, and Adrian’s father locked him in his room.”

The woman stops, unable to continue. Alex doesn’t need her to... Adrian was found hanged in his room. Alex feels her body shake with anger and sorrow. She demands,

“Where is the bastard?”

“I don’t know. I divorced him, and I haven’t seen him since.”

Alex takes the letter, and a few blocks further, reads the words from her friend.

_Dear Alex,_

_this is been a strange week. The last time we met, I think someone slipped me drugs! I saw some crazy stuff… Anyway, I’m not sure what you were trying to show me, just know I’ll always be your friend. I’m back home, and I’m going back to school. I know it sounds stupid, but when my dad told me he loved me, it meant everything…_

_I’ll see you soon,_

_Adrian_

Alex doesn’t remember finding her way home. But back at Hotel Valhalla, there’s a knock at her door. She opens it and finds Magnus, with his hair still slightly damp and wearing clean clothes. He says,

“I’m thinking the next date, we should just stay in and watch TV. Maybe a nature show?”

Darn, there’s something irresistible about that goofy handsome smile. She nods. Magnus asks,

“Can I come in?”

She nods again, and sits on the couch. Magnus sits next to her and she scooches away. He watches her, then asks,

“What’s up?”

She looks at him for a moment biting her lip, then answers,

“You disappeared. Then you forgot who I was.”

“Not on purpose. Look, I can’t promise I’ll always be there. But I’ll always try to be. You know, in that cave, I didn’t know who you were, but I followed you. And I would’ve killed a large rodent for you.”

Alex retorts,

“Yeah well, maybe it’s hard to completely forget the person who cut your head off the first time we met.”

“That wasn’t the first time we met. It was in a youth shelter, the one near the freeway…”

Alex closes her eyes, remembering Adrian. Then she adds quietly,

“You remembered me.”

“Yeah.”

Alex feels a warm glow, almost like Magnus is using his healing hands on her. She takes a deep breath, then admits,

“Magnus, my body… I mean, it’s not just my gender that changes…”

“I know.”

Alex demands,

“How do you know?”

Magnus frowns, and replies,

“Truth is, I don’t know how I know. I mean, later on, uh... I could feel…”

“Okay, I get it, we were hugging and kissing pretty closely. Still, I can’t decide if it’s creepy or cool that you get me… Anyway... I’ve never had sex before. So I don’t know if I’d lose control and change.”

“Like into an animal?” Magnus asks with wide eyes. Alex smacks his arm, and protests,

“Ew, no! I mean like female human to _male_ human.”

“Oh. That’s okay.”

“I don’t think so. You kissed me as a boy, but that’s not the same as having sex. And I get the feeling you’re straight.”

Alex looks at Magnus, wondering if he’s going to own up to it. Magnus recounts,

“You remember when Amir was shown the Bifrost Bridge? He was overwhelmed, having his mind expanded, but he was fine after that. That’s how it was for me, kissing a boy.”

“Kissing a boy is like perceiving a rainbow bridge? Isn’t that metaphor a little bit too obvious?”

Magnus laughs and admits,

“Yeah. And if we get to the... getting naked part, you can choose to be a boy or a girl. I’ll be really really nervous either way. It’s just… I really really like you.”

Naked part? Really really like? Magnus sounds like a fourth grader all of a sudden. Alex repeats in disbelief,

“You’d be willing to have sex with a boy?”

Magnus closes his eyes, then puts his hand over his face. The handsome face is turns bright red.

“Yes, if... if you’re the boy.”

Alex stands up, and orders,

“Maggie, you better close your eyes.”

“Huh, why?”

“There’s about to be a naked part.”

“What!?”

Magnus’s expression is priceless, and Alex laughs. He stretches his arms, and reclines on the couch, saying,

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You get goofy when you’re nervous.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“But teasing aside, we will be making out on this couch.”

“We will?” Magnus repeats, sounding hopeful. Alex nods and adds,

“Yeah. But first, I wanted to tell you… I’ve fallen for you.”

Magnus looks at him suspiciously, and clarifies,

“Fallen in _love_...?”

Alex nods again, and confesses,

“Yeah, I have been for a while. And I don’t let many people near my heart, and…”

Magnus kisses him, and Alex kisses him back, for what seems like a wonderfully long time. Then Magnus apologizes.

“Sorry. I do want to hear everything about your life, but kissing you is… uh, so _good_...”

“Shut up Magnus. You can tell me about it on our next camping trip.”

Then Alex kisses him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my attempt to give Alex a hero's journey. I feel a kinship with the brokenness, the sarcasticness, the anger covering a deep wanting to be loved.


End file.
